Arsenal go through Liverpool, Real Madrid as Simeone names best Gunners team he has faced

Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone has snubbed Liverpool and Real Madrid as he named Arsenal as the “best team” to face this season.

The Gunners hammered Atletico to claim their third win in as many games in this season’s Champions League. A 4-0 thrashing follows victories against Athletic Club and Olympiakos.

The honors were level at half-time but Arsenal kicked into gear in the second half and were ruthless after scoring their first goal in the 57th minute.

Within 13 minutes of scoring a goal, weapon Four were ahead, with Gabriel Magalhas’ opener followed by a Gabriel Martinelli goal and a brace from Victor Guevara.

Although he has faced some high-profile sides this season, the Atletico boss Simeone Feels like the weapons were excellent.

He said: “Yes, I would say the best team we have faced this season.

“They compete very well, their players run and go and they have quality throughout. They deserved to win today and I want to congratulate them.

“It’s a learning curve. We just need to improve. I thought we competed really well to start with. From 60 minutes they were the better team and deserved to win.

“We just have to put it behind us and we need to train on the things that went right and we need to improve.”

Atletico lost 3-2 to Liverpool in September and then beat rivals Real Madrid 5-2 a week later – a margin of defeat that really suggests they were the toughest of the three European giants.

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Atletico defender David Hanko also praised the Gunners after the match.

He said: “It was a very tough game. You can expect that because they are one of the best teams in the world right now – for sure.

“Personally I was up against Bokio (Saka), which is always a big challenge. It was around half-time, we managed to defend their set pieces and they are the best in the world at them right now.

“In the second half, all of a sudden they went 1-0 up from a set piece. All of a sudden it was 3-0 in five minutes. It shows you how good they are, you can’t stop for a second.

“We’re really disappointed that we weren’t able to get a better result and now 4-0 looks really bad.”

Read more: Weapons are ‘boring’ and rely on set pieces? No, they’re really, really good